Which to use
“onde” is an adverb and “onze” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #78
- “onde” frequency rank
- #5,665
- “onze” frequency rank
- 5743
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | onde | onze |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o lugar em que; o lugar no qual | número equivalente a dez mais um; cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha onze elementos distintos; representado pelo símbolo 11 (algarismos arábicos) ou XI (algarismos romanos) |
Where the eye mixes onde and onze
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. onde and onze follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between onde and onze
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: onde is /ˈõ.dɨ/ while onze is /ˈõ.zɨ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “onde” becomes z in “onze”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
onde is recorded at frequency rank #78, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈõ.dɨ/. onze is at rank #5,665, tagged as anum, pronounced /ˈõ.zɨ/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 5743, this pair ranks #68,821 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of onde vs onze
Shared letters: eno. Private to "onde": d. Private to "onze": z.
"onde" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "onze" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "onde" for "onze" ever safe?
Frequency check: "onde" vs "onze" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "onde" and "onze" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "onde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "onze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #68,821 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "onde" and "onze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oni vs onze". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #68,821 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.